The present invention relates to apparatus for the sanitary cooling or heating of flowable or pumpable products. More particularly, the present invention relates to a heat exchanger for receiving a flow of product to be heated or cooled into a tube and for receiving a heating or cooling medium into a separate tube concentric to the product tube allowing for a sanitary processing of the product.
Previous heat exchangers are described, for example, in the following U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. No. 2,372,079 to Gunter; U.S. Pat. No. 2,445,115 to Hanrahan; U.S. Pat. No. 2,706,620 to Graves; U.S. Pat. No. 3,651,551 to Cannon; U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,582 to Rinecker; U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,612 to Allo; U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,980 to Roberts; U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,622 to Cannon; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,172 to Duran.
By the present invention, there is provided a heat exchanger which allows the cooling and heating of a flowable or pumpable product by the use of concentric tubes. In one embodiment, the product enters one tube and is heated or cooled by a medium flowing through a separate concentric tube attached to the product tube by sealing mechanisms on both ends. In a further embodiment, a third tube is employed so as to allow heating or cooling on both the interior and exterior of the product tube.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a heat exchanger which is symmetrical in shape so as to permit simple connection for utilizing a plurality of heat exchangers in series.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a heat exchanger which can be easily dismantled without the use of tools to allow for inspection and cleaning of product contact areas.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a sanitary heat exchanger which will not contaminate the product with the heating or cooling medium in the event a sealing mechanism should fail.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an angled product inlet and outlet in order to flush the area with either the product during normal operation or cleaning solution during a clean-in-place cycle.
It is still another object of the present invention to permit relative movement between adjacent tubes to accommodate thermal effects which may occur during operation.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following description in which the preferred embodiment is set forth in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.